Paraguay
From HFA-PEDIA
Contents |
HFA National Reports
Preliminary National HFA Progress Report 2009-2011 (2010): Paraguay (via HFA Monitor on PreventionWeb / Spanish)
National Report 2007-2009 (2008): Unreported
National Report 2007: National Report on the Implementation of the HFA (2007) - Paraguay
National Report 2006: Unreported
National Report 2005: Unreported
National Platform
Launched in October 2010
- Decreto 5243 - Bylaw recognizing the National Emergency Secretariat (Secretaría de Emergencia National) as the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
HFA National Focal Point
Secretaría de Emergencia Nacional (SEN) (National Emergency Secretariat)
Address: Fulgencio R. Moreno y Parapití 117, Asunción, Paraguay
Contact person:
Gladys Cardozo Zacarías, Minister
Tel: (595)2144-3647
Email: gladyscard@gmail.com
Alternative contact:
Rosmary Zanotti, Programme Officer UNDP
Address: Mcal. López esq. Saravi, Edificio Naciones Unidas, Asunción, Paraguay
Tel: (595-21) 611-980; Fax: (595-21) 611-981
E-mail: rosmary.zanotti@undp.org
URL: www.undp.org.py
Other contacts
Permanent Mission of Paraguay to the United Nations in Geneva
Chief:
His Excellency Mr. Rigoberto Gauto Vielman
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative
Address: Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28a, 1209 Geneva
Tel: +(41-22) 740-3211, Fax: +(41-22) 740-3290
E-mail: mission.paraguay@ties.itu.int
UN System Coordination
UN Resident Coordinator
Mr. Lorenzo Jimenez de Luis
E-mail: lorenzo.jimenez.de.luis@undp.org
UN Country Team
Mr. Lorenzo Jimenez de Luis: Resident Coordinator, UNDP System
Mr. Carlos Casaccia: Regional Director a.i., ILO, OMM, WMO
Mrs. Carmen Rosa Serrano: Representative, OPS/OMS
Mr. Peter Hansen: Chief Economist / Officer in Charge, World Bank
Mr. Carlos Mazuera: Representative, UNICEF
Mrs. Manuelita Escobar: National Officer in Charge, UNFPA
Mr. Valdir Welte: Representative, FAO
Mr. Luis Duran: Representative, IMF
Mrs. Susana Gatto: Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP System
Mr. Aldo Natalizia: Coordination Support, UNDP System
Updated: 16 February, 2006; UNDG Country Team
UNDP
Mr. Henry Jackelen
Address: Edificio Naciones Unidas, Av. Mcal López esq. Sarraví, Casillo de Correo 1107, Asuncion - Paraguay
Phone: 00595 21 - 611 980, Fax: 00595 21 - 611 981,
E-mail: registry.py@undp.org
Website: http://www.undp.org.py/
Secretaría de Emergencia Nacional
URL: www.sen.gov.py/
Country profile
Official Name: Conventional long form: Republic of Paraguay. Conventional short form: Paraguay. Local long form: Republica del Paraguay. Local short form: Paraguay
Capital: Asuncion
Independence day 14 May 1811 (from Spain)
Area Total: 406,750 sq km (land: 397,300 sq km and water: 9,450 sq km)
Population density 6, 669,086 (July 2007 est.)
Ethnic Groups mestizo (mixed Spanish and Amerindian) 95%, other 5%
Religion Roman Catholic 89.6%, Protestant 6.2%, other Christian 1.1%, other or unspecified 1.9%, none 1.1% (2002 census)
Official Language Spanish (official), Guarani (official)
Government constitutional republic
Currency Guarani (PYG)
Climate: subtropical to temperate; substantial rainfall in the eastern portions, becoming semiarid in the far west
Natural Hazards:
local flooding in southeast (early September to June); poorly drained plains may become boggy (early October to June)
Geographical Description (about hazards and disasters):
Paraguay is a landlocked country located in the heart of South America, known as the "Heart of America." It is also strategically located at the junction of the two major axes of South America: the "Hub Amazon" (River Plate) and the Axis Route Bioceánica "(Atlantic-Pacific). To the west, the Chaco is a vast plain formed by the material removed by erosion from neighboring Andes. The landscape is so flat that the rivers do not have enough slope to form a bed and pass through channels permanent, so that after the rainy season widen over large surfaces and then disappear in the dry season.
The expansion of the agricultural frontier in the last decades was based on an irrational and deforestation has greatly affected the water balance regionally, thus increasing the vulnerability of society to such phenomena, especially floods and environmental degradation ( loss of agricultural soils, erosion, etc..).
Floods increasingly frequent and damaging the river Paraguay generate substantial costs, both material and social, affecting not only the residents of the coastal strip of Asuncion, but to the entire city and the country. Asuncion, a city founded in 1537 by the Spanish, is located on the banks of the Paraguay River, the main tributary of the Parana River, which in turn flows into the Rio de La Plata. Population growth, internal migration, trends in land use, the impoverishment of large sectors, the use of techniques unsuitable for housing construction, the precarious nature of the materials used, among others, have helped to steady growth the vulnerability of much of the population to natural phenomena. In addition, the country is also affected by phenomena such as storms and floods, tornadoes, droughts and wildfires, recurring and varying periods. In Asuncion no storm drains, except in the microcenter the city. The heavy rains were the catalyst for breaking the infrastructure of collecting rainwater that exceed their capacity, or to show their state of maintenance, burst, sometimes causing broken streets and sidewalks, subsidence, floods and consequential accidents traffic. The heavy rains also detonated flash floods in the creeks that run through the city, which have been used as rubbish dumps and sewage drainage; are highly polluted and surrounded by settlements in many cases.
The El Niño is considered, at present, as one of the worst events that can affect Paraguay. The rains and floods that generates brings with it a number of problems of environmental, social and economic, endangering the peace and security of society. The positive rainfall anomalies attributed to El Niño occurs between mid-spring and mid-autumn next (October to May), going through a very wet summer, especially in the eastern region and the low Chaco. These weather conditions caused major flooding in the basin of the Paraguay and Parana rivers, which affect coastal cities like Black Bay, Conception, Assumption, Alberdi, Pilar and Encarnacion.
Institutional Setting
The National Emergency Committee was established by Act No. 153, May 1993. In his Art. 2, states that the National Emergency Committee aims to prevent primary and counteract the effects of disasters caused by agents of the nature or any other source; also promote, coordinate and guide the activities of public institutions, municipal and private, aimed at prevention, mitigation, responses and rehabilitation of communities affected by emergencies. It is directed by a board consisting of the interior minister, as President, the secretary general of the Presidency of the Republic, a general officer of the Armed Forces of the Nation (Joint Chief of Staff), a representative of the National Police (deputy) and one representative from each of the following ministries through their deputy ministers: Finance, Public Health and Welfare, Public Works and Communications, Education and Religious Affairs, and Agriculture and Livestock.
From chairman of the board will depend executive director, and the latter, the director general coordination. From the Executive Director depend Emergency departmental committees, and these committees Local Emergency.
CEN, through its various internal organs, among other fulfills the following functions: to prevent and counteract the effects of natural disasters or any other source; propose tasks to be fulfilled by each ministry or agency every public and private an emergency in the area specific to their respective responsibilities or activities; submit for consideration by the executive branch cases should decreed that the declaration of emergency and request the cessation of such a situation once they had gone the causes that motivated; create departmental committees and the Local Emergency; issue regulations for the operation of their departments and agencies created; prepare annual budgets and extraordinary; order processing data concerning the behavior of meteorological and hydrological conditions, in any event natural or from another source capable of generating emergencies; coordinate actions with various governmental and nongovernmental organizations, as well as with local and departmental committees and formulate plans and programmers.
To achieve the Objectives of the various sectors involved CEN:
Finance:
The resources CEN originate primarily in the General Budget of Expenses of the Nation and through donations from individuals and national and international institutions, through which it seeks to meet the objectives set, running specific programs involving other sectors. The problem of this sector is the shortage of resources necessary for the purposes mentioned above, as well as the excessive bureaucracy in the procedure for obtaining funds requested emergency, which means a delay in the implementation of the activities of the institution, which has a negative impact on the affected communities. On the other hand, there is a lack of prevention funds to respond effectively to adverse situations by the agency board members, as well as the Committees and Local Emergency Department.
Armed Forces of the Nation:
It is in the strongest operating arm of the CEN, through its intervention in the areas of mobilization, human resources and security, to provide effective and timely responses to the affected communities. On the other hand, the Department of Hydrology and navigation, dependent on the Navy, reported daily observations publioiométricas according scales hydrometric of rivers Paraguay and Parana Yguazú and Lake Ypacaraí, which are of vital importance in the field of forecasts Riparian families to be affected, and the subsequent planning for the evacuation.
National Police:
Speakers at the first evaluation of the events that occurred, the census of affected families and determination of accidents. It also participates in the direct care of people injured, search, rescue, evacuation and intervention in other events through the Association of Firefighters of the National Police.
Health:
Within this sector, through various agencies coordinated by the Health Advisor CEN, perform tasks care of the wounded at the scene, primary health care to victims, sanitation, advocacy and prevention.
Public Works:
Within this sector are deployed work of providing electricity, through the ANDE; communication services, through the ANTELCO; sanitary works: provision of drinking water through public taps and tankers, as well as of stockout wells blind camp victims, through the CORPOSANA.
Urban indicators
| Indicator | 2030 |
| Total population (thousands) | 8,483.5 |
| Population in urban (thousands) | 6,103 |
| Population in slums (thousands) | N/A |
| Population in urban areas (% of total population) | 71.9 |
| Population in slums (% of urban population) | N/A |
| Annual urban population growth rate (%) | N/A |
| Annual slum population growth rate (%) | N/A |
| Population with access to improved sanitation (% of urban population) | N/A |
| Population with access to improved water (% of urban population) | N/A |
| Population with sufficient living area (% of urban population) | N/A |
| Population with durable structures (% of urban population) | N/A |
| Population in rural (thousands) | 2,380.5 |
- Source: UN-Habitat - The data presented here is extracted from UN-HABITAT's Global Urban Indicators database.
- The data is drawn from different sources and based on 2030 estimates.
Climate change
- Executive Summary of Paraguay's First National Communication on Climate Change to the UNFCC (Full text document available in hard copy and in Spanish only, April 2002)
Recent progress towards the implementation of the HFA
Paraguay: Statement made at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (2009) (Spanish only)
Official Statement made by Lic. Gladys Cardozo, Deputy Minister of National Emergency, Paraguay, at the second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, June 2009.
Aspects mentioned at GP09:
- Grateful for being able to attend the GP09 in order to strengthen own DRR systems with information exchange, as well as to make international alliances which will open new channels for aid
Commitments and proposals mentioned at GP09:
- The National Emergency Secretariat considers that local, national and regional politics should include popular wisdom and participation within National DRR Planning.
Concrete advancements and achievements mentioned at GP09:
- PA1: 2008 National Emergency Secretariat
- PA1: National Emergencies System is reinforced by the new Secretariat.
HFA P1 - Institutional and legal framework:
(Source: based on 2007 national progress report for the Global Platform)
Strengthening disaster risk prevention tools in the department of the Nembucu
Reestablishment of an emergency sub-national system network through the Emergency and District Council
Participative process for the development of a national plan of prevention and disaster management.
HFA P2 - Risk identification and EWS:
Development of a proposal of climatic change adaptation to be sent to the GEF
A local university working on enhancing the meteorological early warning system.
HFA P3 - Knowledge and education:
HFA P4 - Risk applications:
HFA P5 - Preparedness and response:
The actions are centered in the programmers mentioned in 1 and 2 section previous.
Other Areas:
Others Documents:
Development Report Education 2004
Agua, vida y desarrollo: El manejo sustentable del agua y desastres naturales (Spanish)
El Niño 1997-98 y los impactos ambientales en el Paraguay (Spanish)
Informe nacional : El manejo de cuencas hidrográficas en el Paraguay (Spanish)
Impacto del fenómeno "El Niño" en el Paraguay (Spanish)
Vigilancia epidemiológica y atención primaria de salud en las inundaciones (Spanish)
Sistema nacional de emergencia - SISNE: Manual básico de capacitación para emergencias (Spanish)
Efectos sociales de las inundaciones en el Paraguay (Spanish)
El rol de la sanidad militar en situaciones de emergencia nacional (inundación): Caso Paraguay (Spanish)
Resumen general de actividades desarrolladas año 1991 (Spanish)
Análisis del impacto de las inundaciones en el Paraguay
Web Links
PreventionWeb: Paraguay - Disaster Statistics
Paraguay Coordination Profile; United Nations Development Group (includes Common Country Assessment - CCA, United Nations Development Assistance Framework - UNDAF, MDG Reports, UN Country Team, Resident Coordinator Office and more)
Paraguayan Inter municipal Cooperation Organization (OPACI)
Eco-Development Centre for Studies and Training
MDG Profile: Paraguay
